I got a email in my inbox the other day from EV1Servers.net. A company where I first registered TONYCAI.COM with, they have been recently acquired by The Planet, the company went along with all it’s clients (me). I was not notified of this acquisition. The email told me that my domain would expire in 90 days. So I quickly went to renew it because I knew how devastating things are when you loose ownership of the domain.*

When I logged into The Planet’s domain manager and tried to renew, it told me that I had to do it manually with the reseller. So I knew this renewal was going to be a pretty long process. Decided not to waste my time and transferred and renewed it with GoDaddy. They have a good reputation for domain products. So I renewed it for 2 years total of $14 and I got the GoDaddy Certified Domain add-on which is awesome!

* When one looses ownership of the domain, you’d either have to pay a high rate to reinstate the domain or some domain company might have bought your domain to reap the benefits of your visitors so they can make money off your visitors through advertisement parked pages. This happened recently with my friends domain he failed to renew. JHENDI.COM use to belong to my friend Chomell, but now it belongs to “TBD eNom Customer“.

The lesson about domains is renew it way before it expires because once it does, there is a high chance someone will buy it before you do!

It took me a little while to do this and it isn’t perfect but it’s pretty much accurate. I spent the day mapping out all the places I’ve been to while working for NYPIRG. I’m a canvasser and I go all over New York to educate the public about the issues we face in today’s fragile world. I’ve been doing this since May 17th 2007 and my last day is August 24th 2007. Sad to go but I have to get ready for next semester at SUNY Stony Brook.

So this Google Map API shows all the places I’ve been to, the field managers that took me there and the actual turf or streets that I was on. I hope this is as interesting to you as it is for me. It was hard remembering all the places I’ve been to. I’m almost sure it’s accurate but if it isn’t I will make changes along the way.

For those of you looking for a job in the Summer of 2008, NYPIRG is defiantly the way to go! The people you work with and the people that you will meet on turf are priceless. This is by far one of the best things I’ve ever done in terms of a job.

I’m sorry that this post couldn’t be about anything that I have designed my blog to do but I have to some things straight. Last week was a stressful week for me and for I think most people who works with NYPIRG. It was the last week for canvassing for many people because most are off to college. Slowly but surely the NYC Canvas of 2007 is whining down. People are emotional that others are leaving and there are a couple of people that I will miss dearly. I have spent a lot of time with certain people within the last week.

I would like to give shout outs to a couple of people! Prospero [canvassin' from the beginning to the end and the new king of pop], Cynthia [my favorite Asian girl, don't cry, I feel bad enough already], , Q [vous le vous couche avec moi haha], Loftin [always chilled and relaxed, the puking was funny!], Emily [my ears are always open to you, just not about Dimitri or Misha] and my Asian brothers, Billy and Kenny, I’ll see you guys at school! If I missed y’all, then it simply means I just don’t care!! Just Kidding! I love NYPIRG and I’ll miss everyone! I might come back to canvass for 2008 too!

So if I’m leaving my job, that only means one thing, that I have to go back to school. During the last two weeks, I’ve been wanting to go back just because I miss the people at college and have a couple of things to do while being there that I’m excited about! For one, I got the position as official Admissions Blogger for Stony Brook University! I will be blogging for the interest of attracting new students for the next academic year. Two, I’m also official Mozilla Campus Representative. My goal is to setup events and promote the spread of my favorite browser, Firefox, I think I will be working closely with the Linux Users Group in Stony Brook because I remember a Firefox event that they had last semester.

Overall a very emotional work week for me and great anticipations about next semester, It is a strange mix of emotions I have to say. Wish me luck everyone during this transition. Peace out, my next post will be about something more important than my life!

Brings Back Memories
[audio:http://tonycai.com/journey.mp3]

Sources from TechCrunch and Digg reports Facebook‘s index.php source code has been leaked due to a server misconfiguration.

“A small fraction of the code that displays Facebook web pages was exposed to a small number of users due to a single misconfigured web server that was fixed immediately. It was not a security breach and did not compromise user data in any way. Because the code that was released only powers the Facebook user interface, it offers no useful insight into the inner workings of Facebook. The reprinting of this code violates several laws and we ask that people not distribute it further.”

I had re-published the leaked code on my website and was asked to take it down because it’s copyright material. Whoops! Just received an email from Facebook Legal that goes like this and I took the code off:

Greetings,

You are hereby notified that copies of source code taken from the www.facebook.com website have been posted at http://www.tonycai.com/facebook-php-codes-leaked/

The posting of these materials infringes the copyrights of Facebook, Inc., and we request that you immediately remove the materials from your site. I may be contacted at this e-mail address, or by telephone at 1-650-543-4800. I hereby state my good faith belief that the posting of this material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law, and that the information contained in this notice is accurate. Under penalty of perjury, I am authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. If these materials are not expeditiously removed, we reserve the right to pursue all legal remedies available to us, including seeking damages and injunctive relief.

Signed,
Rudy Gadre

So I was forced to take it down without questions. A little run in with the law. Scary!

Sorry Facebook. But please do take care of our private information! Don’t let it leak!

Google will pay “up to $10” for collecting data for a local business! This is great, I was very impressed when Google started taking pictures of streets in major cities like New York City (see here). Now Google is taking one step further and adding to it’s large information database, the goal of the program is to essentially expand the popular Google Maps application. It’s $2 for each successful submission that Google approves and $8 when the local business that you canvassed approves of the information being accurate.

“As a Google Business Referral Representative, you’ll visit local businesses to collect information (such as hours of operation, types of payment accepted, etc.) for Google Maps, and tell them about Google Maps and Google AdWords. You’ll also take a few digital photos of the business that will appear on the Google Maps listing along with the business information. After the visit, you submit the business’ info and photo(s) to Google through your Local Business Referrals Center, and we’ll pay you up to $10 for each listing that is approved by Google and verified by the business.”

I’m a canvasser for NYPIRG so this job should be easy for me, the only difference between this and canvassing for NYPIRG is that the complete rates will be a lot higher, you will get more “YES” and you get to work when you want! I already knock on hundreds of residential homes a week so this won’t even phase me! I’m not saying this to say NYPIRG isn’t a good job, in fact, it’s the best job I’ve ever had!

So go ahead sign up! Also see the FAQ’s. It looks like anyone can make lots of money doing this!

The long awaited Simpsons movie finally came out in theaters in New York yesterday and so after work, my work buddies and I went to see it in Battery Park in Manhattan. To find this particular post interesting, you would have to understand what I do for the summer. I’m a canvasser for NYPIRG (New York Public Interest Research Group), a non-profit organization fighting to protect the environment and public health for New York State. Canvassing is the nature of my job, I talk to people everyday about environmental issues that affects New York and then ask for membership support. At times, the day turns out nice and only get one or two doors slammed on me but other days, you get many doors slammed in your face.

So in the first 5 minutes of The Simpsons Movie, Lisa Simpson canvasses Springfield homes to inform the public about environmental concerns in Springfield Lake and mercury. To our surprise, those were the exact issues we work on everyday! Springfield’s response to Lisa was #SLAM# at every door! I was like “no wayyyy” this is exactly what happens to me everyday! Finally something I see that relates to what I do because there isn’t much coverage anywhere about canvassers or canvassing in general.

So friends, I encourage you to watch the movie to get a feeling of what I have to go through each and everyday! The movie in general wasn’t all that great but that first 5 minutes made the movie good for me. A good spoiler can be found at Rotten Tomatoes. Also I just want to say to all people who have tried canvassing, it’s not ALL that bad. There are many many great nights! The Simpsons expanded on the negative angle of canvassing, thats all.

The title is pretty straight forward… I have added the Environment category on my blog. It’s about time that I expand my vision of my blog, it’s been 7 months since I started blogging consistently. So why the environment? Well I’ve always been fascinated by the earth and how it works sustaining itself for all these years but more recently have I learned about how serious issues like global warming is and the effects it has on the earth. I guess my real interest in earth sciences started in high school with my earth science teacher, Paul Berger and carried on through with my AP Environmental teacher, Sai Yu, both great teachers at Murry Bergtraum High School I might add.

Now I work for an organization called NYPIRG which stands for New York Public Interest Research Group, which does amazing work for the environment as well as consumer rights. I advocate for the environment everyday and being surrounded by awesome co-workers who also care about the same things makes environmental awareness even more important to me. So Cate from NYPIRG, if you read this, [[your the greatest!]] cause I know you have the word “NYPIRG” subscribed to you.
Oh and a little addition to my main menu, I’ve added the New York City PlaNYC 2030 campaign. Click it for more information about creating a sustainable New York City today!

So fellow friends and subscribers, enjoy what looks to be another great addition to my blog and thank you all for reading. I wouldn’t be doing this if I knew no one reads it.

Today is Saturday and I didn’t have to canvass Saturday for NYPIRG (My Job). So I have a lot of extra time and now is a good idea to blog up and catch up with everything. Since working for NYPIRG and helping prevent Global Warming, I’ve stumbled across this picture on the web and thought to myself that PIRACY isn’t all that bad. Not that I do it but it makes sense, the more you download, the less hard copies of everything that has to be produced.

I mean, when software is purchased, you buy the disc, the box, the manual, the jewel case and print. So don’t shut down PirateBay RIAA, you’re only hurting the environment.

So next story, in the OpenSource community, GAIM was recently (well two months ago) renamed and completely remastered to be Pidgin. I’d say, things look different but it’s about time they changed their whole marketing. The website looks a lot more web 2.0 friendly. GnomeAIM (GAIM) was getting too old and now it’s revamped with new icons and a new mascot.

Notice the transaction? Yep, it’s pretty neat. Sean the original developer is still in charge!

So, I’m in the market for a new laptop computer. Will it be a Windows PC, a Linux PC or a Apple? I’m leaning more towards to the Macbook’s because for one, I’ve never owned a recent Mac. I’ve owned one of those ClamShell iBooks but they’re pretty outdated. I’ve yet to own a nice polished White/Black Macbook. However, I’m awaiting for the new Apple OS to be released.

Ahh, nice fresh Apple Mac themes. Yes, I know I can change my current PC to look like that but those customization packs are never perfect. Genuine Mac. Gotta love it.

Next hot stuff, Need to make a quick call? Try ViaTalk for free and don’t pay a penny. Enter your area code and phone number in addition to the digits you’d like to dial. Get talking and enjoy up to 10 minutes of talk time. My ViaTalk VoIP subscription expired and I have to renew it again, unfortunately, I’m not qualified for the new user perks and the discounted price. Maybe, if I call them and threaten to quit! Muhahah.

So finally, one thing I can’t wait to do, go back to Stony Brook. I mean, summer’s great and love the job but it’s starting to get too repetitious and boring. I miss those long nights and partying and shitty food an the dining halls. Can’t believe I just said that but yeah. There’s a lot of random things in this post that I hope finds you interested. Till next time..

P.S: You might have noticed the little changes on my blog header, yeah well I decided to do it and freshen things up a little, and yeah, I’m officially a SBU blogger for admissions!

Amy Remix Jay-Z
[audio:http://tonycai.com/rehabremix.mp3]

I would have never thought that I would like another Pixar movie ever again after Toys Story. I mean I’m sure they’re good but none of them appealed to me. I guess I grew out of the stage of watching CG animated films or cartoons in general but I was wrong. A bunch of friends from work and I decided to go to the movies on Friday. Movie of choice was “Ratatouille“. I was like WTF is that? Since I started working, I haven’t had much time to watch TV, so therefore I didn’t see the commercial for it and had no idea what it was.

Ratatouille was awesome, Remy the mouse is so adorable. It takes place in France and the story plot goes like this. Remy becomes a chef at a famous restaurant in France.. well watch it for yourself. Trust me, it’s a movie to watch on big screen.

Camille – Le Festin
[audio:http://tonycai.com/LeFestin.mp3]

Woot.com is one of the many websites I check daily for it’s many hot deals but I have yet to buy anything from them until today. I was in the market for a digital camera when I stumbled upon this great deal. The Woot purchase process was so simple, almost too simple. I felt like they needed more information from me to process my order. Guess I’ve bought too many things from other websites who collect unless information from the consumer.

Kodak 7.1MP Camera & Printer Dock Plus Bonus Bundle

Who could resist this for only $100! All that for just $100 + $5 to ship. One thing to note is that this unit is refurbished but I could care less, it’s actually better to be refurbished because the unit once had problems and now it’s been fixed and re-manufactured again by the company. So, in about 5 days, I should have the camera at hand and ready to shoot!